leafy, watery, wet

It's been surprising how well moving back to the NW fits, despite all of the stress and losing our house (and the greatly increased work hours), we still really feel like this is right.  I'm definitely a wet, rainy, slightly decaying gal rather than a bright, sunny, dry gal.  I've always loved sweaters and jeans and sort of loathed shorts.  I had a tough time giving up my NW status and found it strange that we were planning on staying in California for the duration and that we had California boys, but we had it really good so I was resigned to it.  I do miss Sonora and all of our friends there, but as for natural surroundings, this just feels so easy to fall right into. 

When I told a friend of mine we were moving back here she said "that makes sense, California didn't really make sense."  I sort of agree.

I'm am also positive that living in Hood River will not suddenly turn us into kite surfing, extreme mountain biking, para-gliding, white water fall kayaking adventure seekers.  We've commented that we're not quite cool enough to live here.  But, if we do stay here I am pretty certain a three foot tall boy of our will definitely become an extreme sportist.  He's already tried to convince us to buy skateboards for the family, an ultra-light, kite boards, snowboards, etc. and he can't seem to tear himself away from all the extreme sport videos that seem to be playing in half the businesses in town. 

(The "bumps" coming out of the water in the photo are spawning salmon.  I've been amazed at how much salmon activity there is here and even though I grew up only an hour away it wasn't on my radar). 

mountain adams

One of my favorite things about the house we are living in right now is the view we have of Mt. Adams (Mountain Adams according to Eliot).  Part of my morning routine is to creak out of bed after much cajoling from my two children, slip on the coziest clothing I can find, open the blinds of the bedroom window, wipe off all of the condensation with an old burp rag that I keep close by for this very purpose and then see if I can see the mountain that morning.  I get very excited when we can see the mountain. Sometimes I don't realize it's out until we are in the driveway (the other really great place where the view can be seen).  I shout about the mountain being out today and how beautiful it is and how lucky we are to be able too see a mountain like this from where we live.  The boys are not too impressed, they are, but they don't really see why their mother must carry on and on about this mountain almost daily.  I've gone so far as to keep a tally of how many days we can spot the mountain (Eason does get into this part of it).  Thus far, we have seen Mountain Adams 33 days since we've lived here (according to my ability to remember to make a mark on the calendar).  I almost feel obligated to leave a little note to the owners of the house "hey just so you owners know when you aren't here in the winters you can see the mountain xxx number of days."

In addition to finding a permanent rental, with oh three bedrooms, a really great kitchen with a gas range, a room for our crafting stuff, a fenced yard, walking distance to town, good gardening spot, energy efficient, very reasonable rent and good character, I think I must now add view of Mountain Adams to that list of necessities.

Notable quote relating to this:

"Mommy, I hope somebody in Hood River loses their job."  -Eason
"Why Sweetie." -Me (sounding concerned and perplexed)
"Because, how else are we going to find a permanent rental?" -Eason

Sometimes I sort of think they are a bit too young to really soak all of this in and then one of them will make a statement like this.  I really hope we do find a permanent place that we can settle into, but I also hope that if we don't we can all find a way to really feel like where ever we are is home and to let go of some of our attachments to having "our permanent space" on this planet.   I think as a mom, if we don't find a more permanent situation, I need to get really creative about how the places we are in can feel a bit more like ours.  At least for Eason I think this will be very important (okay and me a bit too).

So here it is.  Dut da da duh... the view we see from our bedroom window *it looks a bit more impressive in person.

Oh yes, and I really do like being able to see the river too.  

our halloween

A family of pirates this year.  This might very well be the last year Eliot is open to Eason's group costume idea.  Although Indians (is that pc these days?) and family of scarecrows has already been thrown out there for next year. 

We had a great Halloween, but the Sierra Waldorf and Columbia State Park celebrations were missed by all.  I missed the candy free atmosphere when Eliot became a total madman for a 48 hour period obsessing over candy and how he could get it for every meal (mind you I think he had a total of 6 pieces over two days).  I think trick or treating was fun in the moment, but when I was putting Eason to be he said "why do people even think trick or treating is fun when people just give you candy that tastes disgusting."  I read something recently that said that tastes are formed by age three, so maybe by being candy free until 5 means candy has been ruined!  I'm not sure what this means for Eliot. 

I saw a brilliant idea over at soulemama about the candy ferry visiting and collecting any candy donations in exchange for a gift.  So, I busted out this idea and all accepted.  They left their candy by their jack-o-lanterns and in the morning the gifts were stuffed in the cavities.  Halloween cozy pants for Eliot (made last minute by the mom when I realized I had no gifts to exchange) and spokerZ for Eason.  Do you remember spokiedoks?  They're back and still a hit with the kid crew.  The rest of the candy we saved for the candy buy back at the local kids consignment store they will buy back candy for 10 cents a piece this week. 

Hope your Halloweens were great. 

PS This is the perfect house to decorate for Halloween.